Recent content by primagen

guppies are not compatible with tiger barbs, as the barbs like to nip their long fins. about the general problem you've been having, how often do you do filter maintenance? how do you wash the filter. you could be doing it improperly, killing off the good bacteria and putting the tank into a...

for personality, you could try dwarf cichlids like rams or apistos. honey gouramis are good too.

it's possible the aggressive one was a male and the other two were females. if this was the case, he was probably trying to breed with them. males have a gonopodium in place of the anal fin found in females.

melafix is actually problematic for bettas and other labyrinth fish. i don't remember why, but you can do a search. that's why they make bettafix, which is melafix for bettas, gouramis, etc. it has half the concentration of melafix iirc. so if you have melafix and want to use that, just use a...

it could be eggbound. i once had a female rosy barb like that. she would get very bloated looking, as if she were about to explode. but she was still swimming and eating normally. i raised the temperature and whatever inside her was excreted overnight. over time, she would get fat again and i'd...

i'd remove the angels as suggested and treat with melafix to help the tail fin regrow.

i'd add the crushed coral to a filter bag and put it inside the filter. the coral chunks would probably raise the pH too much too fast, so you don't want that.

acidic water has a pH of less than 7, basic is a pH of more than 7 (7 is neutral). i'd add some spoonfuls of crushed coral in the filter to increase the buffering capacity (KH i think), which will provide resistance to pH swings. slowly raise the pH of the tank water to the tap pH through a...

i'd rehome the common plecs, as they get huge and way too big for small aquariums. you are also a bit overstocked. a rule of thumb for beginners is 1 inch of fish per gallon of water. also, is your tank cycled? if not, do a search on fishless cycling. i would pass on the red tailed black shark...

you should really treat a fish with meds once you've confirmed it to be sick. otherwise, you risk the development of a secondary infection. what you describe could be columnaris, which is bacterial. if that's what it is, then treat with maracyn 2, or even better kanamycin for at least 10 days...

sounds like the gold one might be a male, as males are usually more aggressive than females. ideally, you would have only 1 male in the tank with a few other females. this is because males fight with each other. more females distributes the male's aggression among them. male gold/blue gouramis...

are they ok otherwise, like when the light is on during the day? you can try to gradually lower the brightness of the room before turning the room lights off completely. i just leave the room lights on for about 15-20 mins after turning off the tank light.

are the edges of the fins clear or whitish? whitish would indicate fin rot, which is bacterial. clear could mean that the fin is growing back. i'd use melafix to help encourage fin regrowth and see if it helps.

does the base of the nipped fin look infected? if so, it might be bacterial. i'd move the barb to a separate tank and treat with melafix, keeping the water clean with daily partial water changes. if he's not being harassed too badly, you might get away with treating in the main tank. what other...

yes, it's contagious like most if not all bacterial infections. taking out the fish was the wise thing to do, as the other fish might peck at it after it dies and spread the infection directly to them.